Paragon Group Limited v FK Facades Limited [2026] EWHC 78 (TCC) Knowledge Check

This Knowledge Check tests your understanding of the decision of the Technology and Construction Court in Paragon Group Limited v FK Facades Limited [2026] EWHC 78 (TCC). The court had to decide whether an assignee of the benefit of a building contract is entitled to refer a dispute arising under that contract to adjudication. There was no direct authority on the point, and the judgment matters to anyone who takes an assignment of construction contract rights or faces an adjudication brought by an assignee.

The underlying contract was made on 17 October 2018 under the JCT Minor Works Building Contract 2016 standard form, with bespoke amendments, between Office Depot International (UK) Limited as Employer and FK Facades Limited as Contractor, for remedial roofing works at a commercial premises in Ashton Moss, Greater Manchester. The benefit of the contract was assigned in 2021 to OT Group Ltd and in 2024 to Paragon Group Limited, and both assignments were notified to FK. Paragon terminated the contract in April 2025, claimed liquidated damages for culpable delay, and referred the dispute to adjudication. The adjudicator decided that FK owed Paragon £80,500 and made FK responsible for his £17,787 fee. FK paid neither sum, and Paragon issued this summary enforcement claim, which was decided by His Honour Judge Stephen Davies sitting as a High Court Judge.

The judgment proceeds from first principles: the effect of a statutory assignment under section 136 of the Law of Property Act 1925, the distinction between assignment and novation confirmed in Bexhill UK Ltd v Razzaq, the wording of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 and the Scheme for Construction Contracts, and the interpretation of the contract's adjudication and assignment provisions. The judge found the point finely balanced but held that a legal assignee can refer an assigned claim to adjudication, and granted summary judgment enforcing the award.